Welcome to the Shadows of Esteren blog!

9:05 AM
Esteren
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We are very happy to open this blog for the English version of Shadows of Esteren. For its inauguration, here is an open letter from the General Coordinator of the Shadows of Esteren series, Nelyhann.

“Dear all,

It is not without emotion that I am writing this letter today! The opening of this blog is a very important and very special moment for the project that we have been working on through thick and thin for several years now. Before I get to the heart of the matter, let me tell you about the origin of our adventure...

The Forgesonges Collective

Shadows of Esteren is essentially–although not exclusively, as you will see–a role-playing game project conceived and imagined by the Forgesonges collective of authors and illustrators, which was created in 2006, and of which I am one of the founders. The purpose of our collective is to gather artists with a passion for fantasy universes and focus their talents around a common project. Shadows of Esteren is Forgesonges's first project, and no less than twenty people are involved in its development. Most of them are professional illustrators and graphic artists, authors who have worked for other series, etc. The associative dimension of this adventure can be seen in the passion and the boundless energy displayed by the whole team to produce books of the highest possible quality; a heartfelt homage to the imaginary universe that inspires us so much.

A Little Bit of History

Initiated in 2006, the first book of the series was released in French four years later, in September 2010. The ensuing success went well beyond the expectations of the team and of our editor, Agate RPG. From the very beginning of the conception of this universe, conventions and play-testing sessions have been the opportunity to meet dedicated, enthusiastic people who have been included in the original team. That is how the project of a Point'n'Click video game inspired by the Broken Sword series saw light, as well as the composition of an original soundtrack, the first opus of which was released in France in February 2012. This multimedia aspect is at the heart of the Shadows of Esteren project, which aims to offer its readers and players an experience as rich as possible.

The Translation Project

It was during one of these play-testing sessions, when the core book had not even been released, that I met the one who was to become the first translator of Shadows of Esteren... Thus was born the crazy project of translating the whole of the core book–which amounts to nearly 300 pages–in Shakespeare's tongue by ourselves. Once more, it became a wonderful adventure. We got the support of more than a dozen proofreaders, most of them native English speakers, from everywhere in the world: the United States, Canada, Portugal, French Polynesia... Such an outburst of dedicated participation is something heartwarming to behold. After nearly two years of work, the core book, called “Book 1 – Universe”, is ready to be introduced to the great community of English-speaking Players. In the meantime, the translation team has increased, and we have also translated and copy edited “Book 0 – Prologue”, the digital version of which you can download for free here.

We Will Meet This Summer...

We are currently going through the last lay-out steps before we send the books to our printer. The release is planned for the upcoming summer, and we even plan to come in person to GenCon in order to show you our work. It will be a great moment, very rich in emotion. We are currently working on the construction of a Kickstarter project with exclusive additions to celebrate the birth of Esteren on the other side of the Atlantic.